


The Gathering

by Samunderthelights



Series: Vikings Short Stories [4]
Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Brother/Brother Incest, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Don't copy to another site, First Time, Fucking, Hand Jobs, Kissing, M/M, Sexual Content, Sibling Incest, Smut, Vikings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:15:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23475298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samunderthelights/pseuds/Samunderthelights
Summary: After a gathering in the woods, Ubbe and Hvitserk end up spending the night together.
Relationships: Hvitserk & Ubbe (Vikings), Hvitserk/Ubbe (Vikings)
Series: Vikings Short Stories [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2043841
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56





	The Gathering

Ubbe and Hvitserk have been at the gathering in the woods for hours, spending time with their friends, drinking and hanging out. The gathering had began early in the day, and the large group of young people had all started out as one, but by the time the sun had set, the group had split up in smaller groups. Some had ended up making music together, others had lain down together, simply staring up at the sky in silence, others had sat down around the fire, and they had talked about anything and everything.

  
But now that it’s long after midnight, the music is starting to die down, and some of the people are starting to leave. Others are falling asleep in each other’s arms by the fire. But another group had gone off to the lake, and after they had gone for a swim, they had paired off and settled in the grass to spend the night together. Most of them are not a couple, some of them not even friends, a few had not even met each other before tonight, but after drinking and eating mushrooms all day long together, none of it matters. Tonight they are one.

  
Hvitserk is making out with a girl he had never seen before today, and her hands are all over his body. They should be making him feel good, he knows they should. But there is something in her touch that makes him want to run. And when he looks up, he finds such an aggressive, demanding look in her eyes, that for a moment he is unable to move.

  
But then he pushes her off him, towards the young man next to him, and the girl simply moves on to him, so determined to get what she wants, that she doesn’t care who she gets it from.

  
Hvitserk can’t help but laugh to himself as he watches her, but then he notices his older brother, just a few feet away, and he sits up, to watch him. Ubbe is lying on his back, his eyes closed, his lips parted ever so slightly, as a young man is kissing his neck, as a young woman is sitting on top of him. Her movements are so beautiful, so graceful, they almost make Hvitserk wonder if she is real. If he is imagining her. But when he closes his eyes, before opening them again, he finds her still there.  
He moves away from the girl who he had been making out with, and he makes his way through the mess of bodies, towards the young man who is kissing his brother. Something inside of him makes him reach out and touch the young man’s shoulder. Makes him kiss the skin of his back

  
He isn’t sure if this is the drinking, or the mushrooms, or perhaps this is simply what today is doing to him, but he can feel himself touching the young man’s body, grabbing onto him, until the young man stops kissing Ubbe, and turns to face him.  
Hvitserk kisses him, and from the corner of his eye, he sees the big, mischievous grin on his brother’s face. It makes him grab onto the young man’s face, and kiss him harder, before letting go of him, and leaning over to the girl, who is still riding Ubbe. Hvitserk hesitates for a moment, but as he stares into her face, he starts seeing the imperfections, the scar on her forehead, how crooked her mouth is. It makes her real. It makes him able to touch her, kiss her.

  
Hvitserk can feel the hunger in the girl’s kiss, and it makes him want to fuck her. It makes him jealous of Ubbe, but only for a second, because he can feel a hand on his thigh, and a mouth wrapping around his dick, the warm wetness for a moment taking his breath away. And when he looks down, he finds the young man he had been kissing before, but just as he is about to go back to kissing the girl, he realises that the hand on his thigh isn’t the young man’s. It is Ubbe’s hand that is gripping onto his thigh. His brother’s hand.

  
He realises that Ubbe is watching the young man, not the girl who is riding him. It makes Hvitserk wonder if he wishes he was having sex with him instead, if he regrets having sex with the girl. But when his brother looks up at him, and he flashes him a grin, before looking up at the girl, the thought leaves Hvitserk’s mind.

  
He looks down at the young man, and he catches himself imagining him to be Ubbe. He closes his eyes, but as hard as he tries to push down the image in his mind, he can’t stop seeing his brother’s face. And when he feels Ubbe’s grip tightening on his thigh, it sends a shiver up and down his spine. Does Ubbe know what he is thinking? What he is imagining?

  
But when he opens his eyes, he finds Ubbe staring up at the girl, his face, his chest, glistening with sweat. Hvitserk watches him, as the muscles in his body tense up, as a groan comes from somewhere deep inside of him. As he comes, the girl staring at him with a focused look on her face.

  
The girl climbs off Ubbe, and seeing him lying there, so naked, so vulnerable, still trying to catch his breath, his hand still gripping onto Hvitserk’s thigh, sends a shiver through Hvitserk’s body. He closes his eyes, but the image of Ubbe won’t leave his mind. He opens his eyes, and finds his brother staring up at him with a satisfied, but expectant look on his face. So Hvitserk reaches out, and he grabs his brother’s hand, which is still on his thigh, as the young man quickens the pace, fully aware of how close he is to getting Hvitserk to come.

  
Hvitserk all of the sudden becomes fully aware of all the people around him, of all the people who are having sex with each other, who are becoming one. And as he looks around, he struggles to make out the singular bodies, all he can see are arms, legs, faces, but he can’t make out who is who. Yet when he looks back at Ubbe, he sees him. For the first time in his life, he truly sees him.

  
“Hvitserk…”

  
Just hearing Ubbe’s voice, it’s enough to send Hvitserk over the edge, and he tightens his grip on his brother’s hand. But before he has even fully recovered, the young man and the girl have crawled on top of each other, and for a moment, Hvitserk wonders if he has imagined everything that had happened just now. But Ubbe drags him out of the crowd of intertwined bodies, back to where they had left their clothes, and they quietly get dressed again, before making their way to the path back home.

  
“What was that?” Hvitserk asks, still not sure if anything has happened at all. Had he fallen asleep and dreamt it all? Is he awake now?

  
“They are husband and wife,” Ubbe explains, but the explanation is so simple, yet sounds so absurd to Hvitserk right now, that all he can do is laugh. He still feels the full effect of drinking all day, of the mushrooms, and it makes him feel excited, it makes him feel like he is able to do things he wouldn’t usually be able to do.

  
“You fucked his wife?”

  
“You fucked her husband,” Ubbe laughs, as he stumbles, and nearly knocks his brother off the path.

  
“I did not!”

  
“I would have,” Ubbe simply states, and Hvitserk looks at him for a moment, but then he starts laughing, the adrenaline from what has just happened still rushing through his body. He can’t stop seeing the mess of bodies, and even though they are getting further and further away from the gathering with every step, Hvitserk can still feel them, smell them… if he closes his eyes, he is still there.

  
“You do not regret coming with me then?” Ubbe laughs, and Hvitserk realises his brother can see right through him, that he can see the big, satisfied grin on his face, and knows that his mind is still back in the woods.

  
Hvitserk is about to ask Ubbe if this is what always happens at these gatherings, if he knew this was going to happen when he asked him to come with him today, but in the dark he nearly trips over his own feet, and it only results in more laughter.

* * *

“Where are you two going?”

  
The two brothers turn around, and they find Bjorn coming over to them, a knowing look on his face.

  
“Have you been out to the woods?”

  
“Why?” Hvitserk asks, but his older brother just shakes his head, smiling to himself.

  
“You can’t go home like this. If Aslaug sees you like this, she will…”

  
“Kill us?” Ubbe suggests, but it only makes Hvitserk laugh. Bjorn can see just how intoxicated his brothers still are, so he knows he has to look out for them, to keep them out of trouble.

  
“You can stay at my place tonight, and in the morning you can go home,” he says, and without giving his brothers a chance to leave, he leads them off the path, towards his place, where he was just heading himself.

  
But when they get inside, the brothers refuse to sit down and eat something. Bjorn knows it will make them feel better, but he can’t get them to settle down. And in the end he gets so frustrated with them, that he gets up and heads for the door.

  
“Where are you going?”

  
“Don’t you worry about me,” Bjorn says. “Just sleep it off, and I will see you in the morning,” he says, before heading out, and closing the door behind him.

  
“Where do you think he is going?” Hvitserk asks, as he lets himself fall down on the bed. “Do you think…”

  
“You heard him, we don’t have to worry about him,” Ubbe shrugs, as he makes his way over to the candle on the table. He blows it out, filling the room with a darkness which takes a moment for Hvitserk’s eyes to get used to. He can hear his brother stumbling through the room, as he makes his way over to the bed, and by the time his eyes are used to the darkness, he finds Ubbe standing on the other side of the bed, getting out of his clothes, before quickly crawling underneath the furs.

  
“Would you really have fucked him?” Hvitserk asks, and Ubbe looks up at him. “The guy who…”

  
“Would you?”

  
A silence follows, and Hvitserk hesitates, before getting up, and quickly getting out of his clothes. He gets into the bed, only now realising how cold it has gotten, how cold the bed is. And even though the furs should warm him up soon enough, he starts shivering, the cold and exhaustion finally setting in.

  
He closes his eyes, his brother’s question slowly fading to the back of his mind. But when he feels a warm hand being placed on his chest, his heart starts beating fast, and for a moment, he is back at the woods. For a moment, he wonders if he had left the place at all. He wonders if his mind is playing a trick on him.

  
But he opens his eyes, and finds his older brother staring at him.

  
“Ubbe, I…”

  
“I am still a little…”

  
“Me too,” Hvitserk admits, a shy and nervous smile on his face, his brother’s hand growing warmer on his chest by the second. The image of him lying on the ground, being ridden by that girl, that look on his face as he came, Hvitserk can’t get it out of his mind, and he wonders if somehow Ubbe knows. Because Ubbe keeps staring at him with a look in his eyes which Hvitserk has never seen before, and he can’t quite place it.

  
Ubbe’s hand is nearly burning a hole in his chest, but when he takes it away, it leaves such a cold, empty feeling, that Hvitserk gasps for air. His brother seems to notice though, because he flashes a reassuring, determined smile, before placing his hand on Hvitserk’s chest again. But this time he doesn’t let it rest there, this time he carefully caresses his skin, before slowly moving his hand towards his brother’s neck.

  
“What…,” Hvitserk begins, but the dizzy feeling he has been feeling all day, the high, the feeling of not truly being there, of things not being real, of being stuck inside of a dream, it takes over, and he feels incapable of saying another word. All he can do is watch his brother, as his hand is caressing him, touching him, feeling him. As he grabs hold of the side of his neck.  
For just a moment, Hvitserk fears his brother will hurt him, but when he feels him moving towards him, the burning heat of his body erasing any cold he had been feeling only moments before, he realises what is happening. But before he can even think it through, he has already pressed his lips against Ubbe’s, and he is met with such a hunger, such a warmth, that it is sending shivers through his body. Ubbe slips his tongue into Hvitserk’s mouth, and Hvitserk can taste the drink, the girl he had been with, the young man. He can taste something so familiar in this kiss, it reminds him of when they had grown up together. It reminds him of everything they have been through, everything they have seen, everything they are yet to see. For just a moment, the kiss reminds him of the exact bond they have together. Have always had.

  
Hvitserk can feel Ubbe’s hand moving away from his neck, sliding down over his chest, his stomach, all the way down to his hip, where it hesitantly rests. Ubbe had seemed so confident, so determined, and his hesitation makes Hvitserk laugh, but he isn’t even sure why. It just makes him laugh, and when Ubbe stares up at him, a confused look on his face, it only makes him laugh harder.

  
“What are you laughing at, huh?” Ubbe asks, but there is a smile on his face, and Hvitserk knows he isn’t upset with him. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

  
“What question?”

  
“Would you have fucked him?”

  
“Maybe.”

  
“Would you have preferred to fuck her?” Ubbe asks, but Hvitserk just shrugs, all of the sudden very aware of his brother’s warm hand still resting on his hip. “Were you thinking of her, as he sucked your dick?”

  
“No.”

  
“I wasn’t even thinking of her,” Ubbe admits, and Hvitserk can’t help but laugh at his brother’s confession. “I was watching the two of you.”

  
“I saw.”

  
“Yes?” Ubbe asks, his hand slowly but surely moving towards Hvitserk’s dick. Hvitserk is fully aware of what is happening, but it still feels like he is in a dream-like state, like what is happening isn’t real. So he glances down, and the second Ubbe grabs hold of his dick, he looks back up at him. He isn’t sure what he is looking for, but earlier on in the night he had seen the way he had looked while the girl was riding him. He had even watched him as he came, but there had been something distant in his eyes. He had been in a daze. Ubbe seems to be more focussed now, he seems to be here, fully aware of what is happening, of what he is doing. It makes Hvitserk snap out of his own daze, and only now does he fully realise what it is that they are doing.

  
Ubbe seems to notice the slight panic in his brother’s eyes, because he stops what he is doing, and he moves away from him, a worried look on his face.

  
“Is this… do you want…,” he begins, but he doesn’t seem to be able to form a sentence, and Hvitserk can see the determination leaving him. But the realisation that this can be the end of what they were doing, it makes Hvitserk shake his head. It makes him want to go back into his daze, his dream-like state. Because he doesn’t want Ubbe to stop, he doesn’t want this to end. Not yet.

  
But instead of saying something, he kisses Ubbe, and he pulls him closer, their bodies now pressed together, the feeling of skin against skin, making Hvitserk feel like they are on fire. But he slides his hand down, and grabs hold of Ubbe’s ass, before sliding it back up, and resting it on his lower back.

  
“Hvitserk, I…,” Ubbe begins, but he doesn’t finish whatever he had been meaning to say. Hvitserk can tell that he knows that they both know that they are right here, right now. That they are not back at the woods, that they are not under the influence of anything or anyone, that this is them, this is their choice. But Hvitserk isn’t sure if it makes this any better or worse though. Wouldn’t it be better to be able to blame the drinking? But before he can think any more of it, his brother has freed himself from his grip, and he has tossed the furs off them, a freezing cold now coming over Hvitserk.

  
He looks down, and seeing himself lying on the bed, naked, hard, it makes him feel small and vulnerable. Before, he had felt protected, but now there is nothing between them and the outside world, between them and the Gods. It almost makes him feel angry with Ubbe for doing this to him. But when he looks at his brother, he finds him sitting up, and staring down at him, with a hungry, and determined look on his face. But there is also something protective in his eyes, there is love in there.

  
Hvitserk flashes him a nervous smile, and he takes his hand, and gives it a squeeze, not sure if he is telling him that he is okay, or if he is seeking some kind of comfort. But it doesn’t matter, because his brother leans down, and presses a careful kiss on his chest, then one on his stomach, his hip, his thigh, his other thigh. Hvitserk knows where this is going, but it takes him a moment to process it, and by the time the thought has fully reached his brain, Ubbe has already taken his dick into his mouth. And although the young man had done it to him earlier tonight, this is different. It feels different. Hvitserk looks down at his brother, and just watching his head bop up and down, it makes him feel so much all at once, that he struggles to stay still. It makes him want to scream, it makes him want to run, it makes him want to cry, but he isn’t sure if it’s from sadness, fear, happiness. If he can admit that this is the closest he has ever felt to his brother, and it brings him such intense happiness, that all he wants to do is watch him, and treasure the image for as long as possible.

  
But as he is struggling to contain the thoughts running through his mind, he can feel Ubbe picking up the pace, and it makes him feel like he won’t last long. It makes him feel like whatever it is that they are sharing tonight, will be over in a matter of moments.

  
“Stop,” he says, and his brother looks up at him. “I don’t want to come. Not yet.”

  
“No?” Ubbe asks, a mischievous smirk on his face. “Are you still not tired then?”

  
Hvitserk grabs Ubbe, and he rolls on top of him, pinning him down onto the bed. He feels a surge of confidence, and when he kisses him, a thought crosses his mind. He wonders what the girl from earlier tonight had been feeling, when she had been riding him. What had she been feeling, when Ubbe was inside of her? What would it be like, to be fucked by him?

  
“What?”

  
“The girl…”

  
“What about her?” Ubbe laughs, as he grabs onto Hvitserk’s thighs, which are straddling his sides, still pinning him down. “You know she is married?”

  
“I know,” Hvitserk laughs. “But she…”

  
Hvitserk struggles to say the words, so he decides against speaking them at all. Instead, he leans down, and he kisses Ubbe again. But Ubbe can read him like no one else can, and he has a knowing smile on his face.

  
“Do you want me to fuck you, Hvitserk?”

  
“No, I…!” Hvitserk quickly says, but he knows that there is no point in denying what he had been thinking, what he had been imagining. Even back at the woods, he had been imagining the young man had been Ubbe, he hadn’t been able to stop staring at him. He had blamed the drinking, the mushrooms, being where they were. But here they are, in Bjorn’s bed, and he can’t blame anything or anyone else anymore for what is happening. For what he wants to happen.

  
“Do you?”

  
Hvitserk doesn’t even know what to say, or what to do anymore. But he can see the grin on his brother’s face growing bigger, and for a moment, he feels like he has messed everything up. He has crossed the line, and his brother will mock him for wishing, wanting to experience what the girl had experienced earlier that night. But instead, Ubbe wriggles out from underneath him, and he sits up.

  
A silence follows, and to Hvitserk it seems to last for minutes, but in reality it only lasts for seconds, until Ubbe kisses him, before laying him down on his back. And only now that he is lying here, staring up at the ceiling, shivering from nerves, does he realise that he is still missing the furs, that it is still freezing cold without them. All he can do is think about them, focus on how much he is missing them, focus on the warmth he had been feeling before, on the comfort he could be feeling if only he had gone to sleep. If only he had listened to Bjorn, who had told him to have something to eat, before going to sleep.

  
But even focussing on the ceiling, on the furs, on the cold, on the missing warmth, it does nothing to distract Hvitserk, and when Ubbe grabs hold of his legs, he becomes fully aware of what he has wished for. Of what is going to happen. And it isn’t until his feet are dangling over his brother’s shoulders, and he feels their skin pressed together, that he finally looks up at him.

  
“Ubbe…”

  
“Do you want to go to sleep?”

  
“No!”

  
Hvitserk can feel himself blushing at the quick, almost needy reply, and his brother seems to notice, because he laughs, shaking his head. But then he takes a deep breath, and he gets a focussed, determined look on his face. He comes up with a load of spit, before spreading it out on his hard dick, Hvitserk watching his every move, preparing himself for what is about to come. But still, when Ubbe pushes into him, he realises he couldn’t have prepared himself for this. Not at all. It feels like nothing but pain, and it feels unnatural. It feels wrong.

  
Ubbe seems to notice the horrified look on Hvitserk’s face, because he pulls out, a worried look on his face, but it leaves Hvitserk feeling cold, and empty. It makes him feel more wrong. So he looks up at his older brother, hoping that a look is enough to ask him to go on, and it is. Because Ubbe pushes into him again, Hvitserk knowing what is coming this time, this time glad to be feeling the pain. Because it means that this is real, that this is truly happening. And as Ubbe keeps pushing into him, the pain turns into something else, into something more. It feels like a warm, growing pleasure he has never felt before, and it makes him feel such a high, that he almost wonders if this is resetting the effect of the drinking.

  
“Fuck, you are…,” Ubbe groans, and Hvitserk looks up at him, only now noticing the beads of sweat forming on his forehead, on his chest.

  
“Is that good?” Hvitserk laughs, but Ubbe just flashes a small grin, before leaning down to kiss him. It’s a quick, sloppy kiss, but it’s enough to send shivers down Hvitserk’s spine. He looks up into his brother’s face, and just seeing the focussed, concentrated look, the tension in his every muscle, it is almost enough to send Hvitserk over the edge.

  
Ubbe seems to notice, because he grabs hold of Hvitserk’s dick, and his touch is so unlike Hvitserk has ever felt before. So unlike anyone has ever touched him before, that he wishes it could always be like this. He wishes people would always touch him with such care, with such love. That the intensity, the tension, the hunger, caused by their bond, by their love, would always be there. He wishes every fuck would be like this.

  
Just as he is thinking this, he comes, and just watching Ubbe’s face, the pride, the satisfaction, it makes Hvitserk wish he could come again and again. But instead, he struggles to catch his breath, while Ubbe is still fucking him, his movement becoming less focussed, and Hvitserk knows he won’t last much longer.

  
Hvitserk can see the change in his brother’s face, and he feels such a wave of excitement, of satisfaction, of pleasure washing over him as he watches him come, that it takes him a moment to realise that his brother is still inside of him. That his cum is going to be inside of him, that right now at this moment, they are more one than they have ever been before.

  
“Fuck,” Ubbe whispers, as he pulls out, but Hvitserk isn’t ready for this to be over just yet. So he wraps his arms around him, and he holds him as tight as he possibly can. But his body feels different already, he feels empty, something feels wrong. So he kisses Ubbe, and he is met with a tired, but satisfied kiss.

  
“We should try and get some sleep,” Ubbe whispers, and Hvitserk nods, not sure what else to say. What else to do. So he kisses Ubbe one last time, before resting his head on his chest, and closing his eyes, wondering if any of this will still have happened by the time he wakes up.

* * *

Bjorn is half expecting his younger brothers to already have left when he comes back in the morning, but instead he finds them in bed together. It’s no surprise to him that they have shared a bed, but the two young men are naked, and their bodies are entwined together. Bjorn knows how cold of a night it was, and yet the furs are at the end of the bed, unused. He sighs, because he can tell what has happened, and it makes him wish he hadn’t left. Makes him wish he could have stopped it from happening.

  
But it has happened, and he can’t turn back time, so he quietly starts preparing breakfast, and he leaves his brothers as they are for just a little longer.

* * *

Hvitserk is the first to wake up, and when he feels Ubbe’s body pressed up against his, it only takes him a second to remember what they had done last night. He feels like he should be regretting it, but he doesn’t. He can’t.

  
So he carefully wakes Ubbe up, preparing himself for the worst. Preparing himself for a fight, to be blamed, to be called anything and everything. Yet when his brother opens his eyes, he has a shy smile on his face.

  
“How are you?” he whispers, but Hvitserk just shrugs. “Do you remember what…?”

  
“Do you?”

  
“Of course,” Ubbe whispers, before bringing his hand up to the side of Hvitserk’s face, a worried look on his face. “Are we…?”  
Bjorn has watched his brothers for long enough, but he isn’t prepared to face whatever is going to happen next, so he gets up, making sure to make a noise, so they are aware of his presence. And both men jump up, quickly covering up, embarrassed to have been seen. To have been caught.

  
“How long…?”

  
“Get dressed, I have got food,” Bjorn says, and his brothers quickly do as they are told, before joining him at the table. “So… last night?”

  
Neither Hvitserk nor Ubbe look up at him, they just keep staring down at their bowls, and Bjorn sighs.

  
“How long has this been going on?”

  
“It hasn’t,” Ubbe says. “It just…”

  
“And is it going to happen again?” Bjorn asks, but his brothers don’t answer. Hvitserk knows that he would give an arm and a leg for it to happen again. The bond, the love he had felt last night, he would give anything to feel it again. But he would never speak the words out loud. “Is this going to cause problems between the two of you?”

  
“No,” Ubbe quickly says.

  
“Good, because if it does, then…”

  
“It won’t,” Hvitserk says, but Bjorn looks at him with a hesitant look on his face. “Are you going to tell people?”

  
“Aslaug?” Bjorn asks, and Hvitserk nods. “She doesn’t have to know, does she? No one else has to know. Just make sure this… whatever this is…”

  
“This is nothing,” Ubbe says, “We had been drinking, and something happened. That is all.”

  
Hvitserk tries to hide the hurt on his face, but Ubbe can see right through it, and underneath the table, he grabs his brother’s hand, to let him know that they are okay, that they will talk later. That this is just him, trying to get away from their brother.  
It makes Hvitserk feel a little better, but it also makes him realise that last night he hadn’t been thinking of his family, of his brothers. Of what they would think, or do, if they were to find out. He had only been thinking of himself and Ubbe, and it makes him feel guilty. Yet he can’t get himself to regret it.

* * *

“What I said to Bjorn…”

  
“I do not regret what happened,” Hvitserk blurts out, when they are on the path on their way back home. “Last night… I love you, Ubbe.”

  
“I love you too, brother,” Ubbe says, a smile forming on his lips, and Hvitserk knows that no more words are needed. Before yesterday, they had not only been brothers, but they had also been best friends. But after yesterday, they have grown into more than best friends or brothers, they now share an unbreakable bond, they have become one.

* * *

“Where have you been?” Sigurd asks, when his two brothers step inside. “Have you only just gotten back from the gathering?”

  
“No, we stayed at Bjorn’s.”

  
“How was it?” Sigurd asks. “Did you have fun? Was there any music? Did you…”

  
“We had an early night,” Ubbe shrugs, trying to keep a straight face, and his younger brother has a disappointed look on his face. “You have not missed anything, Sigurd. Believe me.”

  
“I don’t get why mother wouldn’t let me go,” Sigurd complains, as his brothers follows him, sharing a knowing look behind his back. “I am old enough, she just…”

  
“An early night?” Hvitserk whispers, as their brother goes on, not even aware that they are not listening to him.

  
“Yes.”

  
“We should have an early night more often,” Hvitserk whispers, only after the words have left his mouth, realising what he has said. A nervous feeling creeps up on him, and he wonders if he has crossed a line, if he should have kept the words to himself. But when he sees the grin growing on his brother’s face, he can’t help but smile.

  
“Yes?”

  
“I think we should.”

  
“What are you two whispering about?” Sigurd snaps, but his brothers just laugh at him, and he raises an eyebrow. “What am I missing? Did something happen?”

  
“Nothing happened,” Hvitserk says, and his younger brother shrugs, before continuing on ranting about their mother. But Ubbe grabs Hvitserk’s hand, and squeezes it tight. Hvitserk looks him in the eyes, and for a moment, he is nervous to find a distance, but he is met by something else, something new. It is a knowing, it is a memory, it is a beginning. It is a reminder of what they have, of what they have always had. It is a reminder of what they are yet to have. It is a reminder that nothing, and no one will ever be able to come between them. It is a promise. A promise to be brothers, forever and always.


End file.
